"Ranch hand" is an informal term for a worker who tends livestock on farms and ranches. Ranch hands make sure that the animals are fed and watered and that their housing is regularly cleaned. They also watch for any signs of disease. This job doesn't usually require any level of formal education.

"Ranch hand" is an informal term for a worker who tends livestock on farms and ranches. Ranch hands make sure that the animals are fed and watered and that their housing is regularly cleaned. They also watch for any signs of disease. This job doesn't usually require any level of formal education.

National Average Wages

According to estimates released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, farm animal caretakers such as ranch hands earned an average wage of $11.56 an hour as of 2012. This equates to an annual salary of about $24,040. The bureau reports that the median-earning half of farm animal caretakers earned between $8.86 and $13.56 an hour. The lowest-paid 10 percent earned $8.03 or less per hour, and the highest-paid 10 percent made $17.21 or more.

Pay by Location

In general, farm animal caretakers made the most money in the Northeast and West and the least in the Central region of the U.S. As of 2012, the highest-paying state for these workers was Nevada, where they earned an average hourly wage of $16.39. Those in Wyoming ranked second in terms of average pay, at $15.73 an hour, followed by Delaware at $14.99 and South Carolina at $14.79. The lowest-paying state was Tennessee, where farm animal caretakers averaged $9.40 an hour.

Pay by Place of Employment

Most agricultural animal caretakers work on farms and ranches, where they earned an average of $11.63 an hour in 2012. Some work for farm product wholesalers, however; these caretakers reported an average income of $10.10 an hour. Still others work in the industrial side of agricultural animal production. Those working at slaughterhouses reported an average hourly wage of $12.91, while those in animal food manufacturing averaged $12.99 an hour.

Job Outlook

According to the BLS, the number of jobs for agricultural workers in the United States will decline by about 3 percent through 2020, leading to a loss of approximately 19,100 jobs. Some of these will be positions for animal caretakers. The BLS still projects that job-seekers will experience good employment prospects, however, because low pay leads to significant turnover in the industry, creating many additional job openings.

2016 Salary Information for Agricultural Workers

Agricultural workers earned a median annual salary of $23,560 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On the low end, agricultural workers earned a 25th percentile salary of $20,930, meaning 75 percent earned more than this amount. The 75th percentile salary is $28,030, meaning 25 percent earn more. In 2016, 856,300 people were employed in the U.S. as agricultural workers.